[NOT ACCEPTABLE] Sales reports

-- url of the page with the problem -- : KenMcNabb.com
-- HikaShop version -- : HikaShop Business: 2.2.2
-- Joomla version -- : Joomla! 2.5.16 Stable
-- PHP version -- :5.3.27
-- Browser(s) name and version -- : Firefox 25.0
-- Error-message(debug-mod must be tuned on) -- : No Error message

I have the following request from a client:

I need to be able to run a report on Product sales every month and have it broken down by product sales, shipping and if applicable, sales tax. I need to know what we are collecting every month on these three items. I am thinking it could be a columnar chart with one column being product, one being postage and one being sales tax, with a total for each column. I hope that makes sense.

In looking at your Reports Edition page, http://www.hikashop.com/support/documentation/integrated-documentation/20-hikashop/tutorials/133-hikashop-report-form.html , that page does not look like the reports page we have as shown below:



I could not see any downloads for other extension add-on's for reporting. Is this a separate component or add-on?

To be honest, the query type of reporting in Hikashop is not very intuitive for people who are use to simply generating a single sales report that gives them a breakdown of sales, quantity, taxes, etc. If you needed a breakdown, you have to run an individual query for each and every specific aspect which is problematic for most 'typical' users. Also, there is no way to display reports by a tax method. This is an absolute requirement for tax reporting purposes.

Any assistance would be appreciated so I can show my clients how they can get what they need.

Hi there,

First of all, you have the right edition page. The style is different because our screenshots are made with Joomla 3. I also see that you are not running the last version of Hikashop, try to update to make sure you have every available options.
About your issue, If I understand what your client is looking for, you would like 3 columns with the products sales, shipping fees cumulated and tax cumulated plus a last column with the total right?

This is not something possible with Hikashop now. First it is not possible to give the shipping fees per products since these fees are attached to an order and not a product. Second We made the report thinking about people who would like to see their sales without that much details. Actually the reports allow a lot of different visualization but don't go further in the exposition of the sales.

It's something we can think about though but we'll need some details about what exactly you want to display.

Eliot,

Anyway to get a breakdown of sales by sales tax type?

Also, I cannot find a download link to upgrade the version of the HikaShop Business license that I have purchased. Can you provide me with a link?

You have the latest stable version of HikaShop Business: 2.2.3

So is 2.2.3 the latest version?

Also, for tax reporting purposes, how is someone using Hikashop suppose to get the total amount of sales for each tax method?

Nicholas,

Here is what my client needs and her comments:

I NEED to have a report that tells me what product was sold by month and broken down by price, shipping and if applicable sales tax. If we are going to pay commission based on product sales, I cannot pay with shipping included.

I was able to get a report, but it’s a very poor one. It doesn’t show me how many of each product was sold, nor does it break down by what I listed above. I guess I’m not satisfied with the reporting system in HykaShop. It’s very poor for gathering data as far as I’m concerned. I understand that HykaShop has a lot of other components that make it work but this is an important business piece that we need to have and I’m hoping that you can tell me how we can get it.

I have to agree with here. HikaShop has a lot of positive points but reporting is absolutely awful. You need a report generator and not a query system. Businesses need reports they can use, not a query system where they can get the transactions they need, export it out to an excel file and then create a report that 'might' be usable. Remember, not everyone is 'well-versed' in exporting transactions and create excel reports. Most are office personnel who simply need a report with what they need to do their job.

Nicholas,

Several weeks? Seriously?

I mean, you built the application, and know the underlying connections between tables. I come from an application development background and I have 'personally' built reports daily for Fortune 500 companies! Of course, the database was GL4 level, but I'm a solid coder. However, I 'really' have no interest in getting back into 'hard-core' programming.

Remember, you have developed an excellent and versatile shopping cart but businesses need reports for a variety of needs and one is government reporting as well as affiliated and commissioned sales. I have tried to obtain the information my cilents needs with the query system and it is simply NOT possible. What is a 'business' suppose to do for reporting sales for tax purposes to different government agencies when shipping and tax is included? How are they suppose to pay affiliates or commissions on products when they have no idea 'how' many were sold nor the exact totals? How can they get totals of items that have been sold? It's nice to know, "Hey, these are our top 5 sellers...whooppee!!!" but that won't satisfy a government sales tax agent. He could care less who your top 5 sellers are as all he want is how much of each product was sold in his jurisdiction. You may not be aware of it but most of the states in America are taxing online sales and there is a move for a national tax. It's a mess but business have to meet what is required by laws.

Look at the MijoShop demo, http://mijosoftdemo.com/ . They have a very nice reporting system that actually provides most of what my client needs. But I don't want to have to change simply because of reporting as HikaShop has other enhancements that MijoShop does not.

However, I guess I'll have to figure out your table connections and build our own reports but I can tell you, I will be looking at other shopping carts, which is a shame as I've invested quite a bit of time in learning this one but, reporting, for businesses is just too crucial to dedicate any additional time with a cart that does not have that functiionality.